Ch2. Going to War
Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Star Wars.
3 months later
"Jak. Jak, get up. Jak!"
Jak rolled out of his rack, reaching for his blaster pistol. He had it out and level with the offender's chest before he realized he was still in firebase epsilon, and he was pointing his weapon at his friend Corran's heart. "Whoa! Easy, man!" Jak sighed and put his blaster back in the holster hanging from his rack post. "What now, Corran? If this is another false alarm, I'm gonna shoot the sergeant." Corran grinned. "Not this time man. We finally got orders. We're leaving this rock. The 501st just hit Naboo, some kinda 'government adjustment', they said. We got called in to sweep the capitol city and mop up." Jak gave his friend a small grin. "Ready to finally kill someone?" He yawned and began donning his armor. "Give me five minutes."
On the surface, a small group of ragged-looking people dressed in unassuming garments gathered in an abandoned house. There were five of them, two males and three females. They sat huddled around a small fire, set on the hard floor of the house; feeding the small flame with pieces of furniture or cloth.
A woman with long brown hair falling around her shoulders spoke, her voice trembling. "What will we do now?" The man sitting across from her shook his head. When he spoke, his voice was rough, like his throat had been damaged. "I don't know. We have to get off planet, that's for sure. With the queen gone…" A melodic voice spoke next, it's speaker hidden by the hood of her cloak. "How do you suggest we run, Adar? We have no money, nothing to barter with, and no friends." The other two figures remained silent, their hands clasped together as if each was a lifeline for the other. The one called Adar answered sharply. "So what would you have us do, Kaer? Should we surrender? Throw ourselves on our blades? I don't desire to become one with the force so quickly."
The first woman spoke again. Her voice was shrill, as if she wanted to scream but couldn't quite give way to the desire. "Stop! This won't help. Surely we still have allies, or other Jedi survived the assault like we did. They could be anywhere, hiding like we are. I refuse to surrender, either to fear or the so-called Empire." Adar laughed unpleasantly.
"Surrender isn't what I had in mind. What I was thinking of was a little less pacifistic." Everyone else arrayed around the fire looked at her with a combination of fear and thoughtfulness. "You mean vengeance." Adar nodded. "Another detachment is being sent here to make sure the job is done. I intend to at least take some of them with me." The other speakers nodded one by one. Kaer finally spoke. "Then it's decided. When these 'stormtroopers' arrive, we will be there to greet them."
Corran and Jak looked up from their pazaak game as the door to their shelter opened. It was their squad leader, Seni. Seni had been one of the first platoons of stormtroopers ever to be recruited. She was the most experienced trooper around, but she had a tendency to disregard orders, the tell her superiors what she thought of these orders. Regardless, she was too valuable to be shoved into some file, so she was bounced between squad leader and platoon leader, depending on who got killed around her.
"Suit up boys, our squads on patrol tonight." Corran groaned. "Again? We've been on this rock for six weeks and we ain't found anything but corpses." Seni nodded. "True, but tonight's different. I can feel it. Something's goin' on." Corran and Jak both fell silent. Seni's 'feelings' had never led her wrong before. In the time that they'd known her, when Seni said somethingwas going to happen, it always did.
Jak and Corran suited up. They donned their shiny, stark white armor, grabbed their gear belts, loaded their weapons, and joined the rest of their squad at the firebase gates. They moved onto the road, following the streets on their assigned route.
Jak felt a sinking feeling in his gut. Unlike usual, the streets were quiet. No lights shone in the windows of the houses. Pets had been brought in from outside, there was no traffic on the streets. It was as if the entire city held it's breath. Seni's voice came over the com: "Keep an eye out, whatever's gonna happen, it's gonna happen soon." The entire file tightened their grips on their weapons, ready for anything.
The night wore on as minutes dragged by and the file kept moving. Through the city they went, checking every alley, ready for the slightest movement. As they were making their way back, Corran's voice came over Jak's com: "What's going on? Seni's feeling should have hit by now. She said 'soon', didn't she? I wonder if…" Corran's voice shut off with a hiss of static. "Corran? Shit." Jak opened his com up to Seni. "Squad leader, I think something's up. I just lost Corran." Seni's voice was clear as she addressed the stormtroopers. "Be advised, possible host…" At the front of the column, there was a flash of light, and chaos erupted.
Adar felt satisfaction in watching the stormtrooper's head roll across the ground. The kill had been swift, Adar had barely turned her lightsaber on before she was neatly severing his head from his body. The brilliant beam was extinguished just as quickly. She saw a similar action towards the front as the first of the doomed troopers was downed. Then all thought vanished as five darkly dressed figures exploded into the street, beams of colored light as their weapons.
To their credit, the stormtroopers fought valiantly. They attempted to form into a defensive formation, making a circle to keep their backs protected. It would have worked against normal foes. But the Jedi swept through their ranks, reducing the fifty or so troops to a couple of dozen in barely a minute. Then one man pulled his helmet off and began shouting orders. The stormtroopers scattered, taking cover all over the street. Adar smiled wolfishly. She was still smiling when several of them began to fire at her with their weapons on full automatic. She noticed similar tactics being deployed against her comrades. Their assault suddenly became a desperate defense against the lethal fire.
Kaer weaved his lightsabers in a frenzy, blocking and deflecting the blaster bolts that streaked toward him, lighting the night. He was still deflecting bolts when Jak rolled a thermal detonator under his feet. The explosion lifted him up, and he glimpsed the others' plight before his body hit the ground, and the light left his eyes.
Jak watched in amazement. I didn't think that would work. He shook himself, remembering that there were still four more jedi to kill. How did they survive the 501st? Two of the jedi fought side-by-side and back to back, two bodies moving as one. They cut a path through the remaining stormtroopers, obviously trying to escape. Another stood in the middle of the street, her lightsaber lit from both ends. Her movements were almost dance-like, fluid, and she seemed to be able to deflect the bolts in a 360 degree arc.
Another had her back to the wall of a building, slowly moving towards an alley. Oh no you don't. Jak crept to the alley from the opposite side, hoping she would be too distracted by the covering fire to notice. She was. He moved into the alley, silently, no mean feat considering his size and the inherent noise of the armor.
Sure enough, the jedi, with a last wave of her lightsaber, spun into the alley, looking over her shoulder to ward of blaster fire from behind.
That was a mistake.
Jak's fist caught her in the back of the head, dropping her to the cold concrete of the street. His blaster pistol's muzzle met her head, and he fired a three-round burst into the back of her skull. Surreptitiously, he picked up her fallen weapon, hiding it away in one of the cases on his belt. As he stepped out of the alley, he saw that the woman still survived in the street, and was actually managing to bounce back some of the rounds fired at her. "Hey, schutta!" His yell distracted her for a moment, allowing one of his fellow stormtroopers to finally get a shot through her defense.
The bolt took her in the calf, and she fell to one knee. She threw out her arm behind her, and the phalanx that stood there flew backward with such force that some of them actually stuck in the wall. Enraged, the remaining stormtroopers, now numbering a pitiful handful, opened fire on the injured jedi again. Jak , behind her from now, calmly pulled his combat knife from it's sheath and took aim.
He let fly, and the blade caught her in the throat. Her 'saber blade went wild, allowing the blasters to at last find their mark. She jerked as rounds were poured into her body, each one burning a hole through flesh and cloth alike. She was dead before the last bolt hit her.
The remaining stormtroopers shouted with victory, their weapons held high. Jak yelled with them, sweat covering him. It's good to be alive. Their joy and his quickly turned to shock as two forgotten jedi dropped onto them from above. With a few spins and slashes, the fight was finished. All Jak's squad were slain.
"NO!"Jak screamed in rage. The two jedi looked at him, surprised, before they walked toward him, grim determination set in their eyes. Jak fell to his knees, reaching over to grab his helmet and putting it on; his hands behind his back like a doomed man at the headsman's block. The two jedi didn't speak, they simply walked toward him, standing in front of him. They raised their 'sabers high- and Jak brought his last two thermal detonators from behind his back and held them in their faces.
Behind his helmet, he grinned. "Go to hell, and tell my boys I'm sorry."
The detonators went off, throwing him backward into the wall, his head met something hard, and he knew no more.